DOWNINGTOWN — Friday’s District 1-Class AAAA championship may have been hopelessly out of reach, with Spring-Ford trailing juggernaut Coatesville by 38 points in the fourth quarter.

The clock may have been running out on the Rams’ superb season.

Yet there was Spring-Ford quarterback Hank Coyne, still guiding his squad with guts and guile one last time at Downingtown West’s Kottmeyer Stadium.

A four-yard toss to Zameer McDowell to start it off. And later, back-to-back runs of 7 and 15 yards to set up a three-yard Yousef Lundi TD run with 3:48 left.

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No, that final drive and resulting score didn’t have a whole lot of impact in what wound up a 59-28 victory by a dynamite Red Raiders squad.

But it did provide perhaps an appropriate final chapter in what will go down as one of the top signal-calling careers in Spring-Ford — and Pioneer Athletic Conference — history.

Though he was thoroughly outgunned by Coatesville counterpart Emmett Hunt, Coyne battled the entire time he was on the field. To the bitter end.

Rams coach Chad Brubaker wouldn’t expect anything less from Coyne, or for that matter his entire contingent of seniors.

Coyne wound up completing 14 of 28 passes for 143 yards while throwing two touchdowns and one interception. Along the way, he became The Mercury area’s all-time career leader in both completions and attempts, while finishing second in passing yardage.

“He’s been great,” said Rams tight end/defensive end R.J. Sheldon, one of the few Rams, like Coyne, to have seen quality time as a sophomore two years ago. “He’s only gotten better over the past three years. He’s going to be really hard to replace.”

As are the rest of the Rams’ final-year players, who will graduate having put together a school-record 31-8 mark over the past three years highlighted by their first three postseason wins in program history.

Guys like fullback Yousef Lundi, who came up huge when junior tailback Jarred Jones went down with injury earlier in the season and wound up being a 1,000-yard rusher.

Like the bookend combo of Sheldon and Zameer McDowell, who composed a potent pass-catching tight end combo while each wreaking havoc on the defensive line.

Like offensive linemen Michael Gilmore, Montana O’Daneill and Justin Meals, who paved the way for the Rams’ three-pronged ground game.

“I’m so proud of the way they’ve played all year,” Coyne said of his fellow seniors. “Some of these guys didn’t even start until this year, but they stepped in and made big plays. They played their hearts out from the snap to whistle on every down, and that’s all you can ask for.”

“The motto for our seniors this year was, ‘Raise my performance; raise my expectations,’ ” Brubaker said. “And they certainly did that. They set the bar really high, and our future teams will have to step up their game because of this senior class.”

Two years ago, in Coyne’s first year as a starter and Brubaker’s first year at the helm, the Rams went 9-3, a significant step up from the previous year.

Then last year, Spring-Ford went 10-2, bringing home their first PAC-10 title in more than a decade.

But that was only the appetizer for this fantastic fall, when the Rams took down the trio of Garnet Valley (43-27), Ridley (28-26) and Pennridge (35-24) to reach the district final.

“It’s been a tremendous year,” Coyne said. “It’s been the best experience of my life. Something I’ll never forget. Something I’ll take to the grave with me.”

And though Coatesville’s high-powered offense buried the Rams for good (after they had hung within 28-21 late in the first half), the mood afterward was as much positive reflection as it was heartbreak.

“There’s really no good way to go out unless you win the whole thing,” Sheldon said. “But it’s been a great journey.”

“First of all, (the seniors are) graduating with the most wins in Spring-Ford history,” said Brubaker. “They’ve had some good modeling (from previous classes) over the past two years, and now they’ve done the same for our sophomores and juniors.

“I can’t say enough about them. We care about these kids so much. They’ve worked hard and done everything we’ve asked them to do.”